On politics in the Golden State

Costa takes the lead in Central Valley congressional race

In the bid to keep his congressional seat, Rep. Jim Costa (D-Fresno) has pulled ahead of Republican Andy Vidak, updated tallies from the California secretary of state’s office showed Wednesday.

As of 4:10 p.m., Costa was leading Vidak, a cherry farmer, 39,829 votes to 38,511. Thousands of ballots remained to be counted, and the secretary of state’s office expects to have another update on Friday.

Wednesday marked the first time since the Nov. 2 election that Costa, a three-term incumbent, had not trailed Vidak.